The power of the spoken word is taking over Social Media's center stage!

While traveling to Orlando, FL to scout out the location for the 2019 ControlTrends Awards event, Eric had the opportunity to attend the PODFEST EXPO 2019 and mix with some of the brightest podcasters and companies in the world.

The PODFEST EXPO is a community of people who are interested in and passionate about sharing their voice and message with the world through the powerful mediums of audio and video. We’re proud to unite as many people as possible to learn, get inspired, and grow better together.

Show notes

Eric Stromquist: Eric Stromquist here with the man, the myth, the legend, Kenny Smyers. Kenny, we’re not in Kansas anymore. Tell our community where we are. We’re in Orlando, Florida. We’re sending in front of the BB King Blues Club and we have found ourselves a location for the 2018 ControlTrends Awards we have. And in case you don’t know that Sunday night is Super Bowl Sunday. So if you want to come to the biggest Super bowl party in Orlando, reach out to your sponsors and say, “hey, we want to be there with Ken and Eric ” We’ve got the BB King space booked and we will have The ControlTrends Awards starting about two hours earlier,. so after the Awards you can just chill out and watch the game with all your rowdy friends.

Ken Smyers: Here’s our favorite team and we go right there. So it’d be a lot more on that. And for our sponsors out there, Kenny not putting together a special discounted sponsorship package if you sponsor early.

Eric Stromquist: So if you need more information. reach out to me or Ken and check itt out. And Kenny, We’ have been working on the show this week. And also as you know, we’ve been working on the ControlTrends Podcast Network. And as such, I’ve been down here at PodFest 2019, learning from the best people in podcasting, all about how to create these networks? Had about make the podcast better about how to get more engagement. So we’re going to be able to offer that to our community. So listen to, I typically spend, the next little segment is me getting interviewed by Travis Albritton at Podfest. So take a listen to this.

Travis: Well Eric, wonderful to sit down with you here at PodFest 2019 and the buzz sprout recording studio. How’s it been so far?

Eric Stromquist: it’s an amazing, amazing program. I’ve learned so much here and have a, been a big believer in podcasts and all along, but there was so much that didn’t know that I didn’t know and now I’m even more convinced, Travis, that he got to have a podcast to connect to your audience.

Travis: Now tell me a little bit about how you first started in podcasting. Like how long ago was that? What was the original idea? And then, and then like what have you been producing over the last several years?

Eric Stromquist: Cool, great question. So it kind of goes back where we’re one of the Honeywell and Johnson controls largest distributors where master systems, systems integrator, HVC controls distributor with no about $3 million worth of inventory in our Atlanta a warehouse. And about the time that Seo kept coming up, I wouldn’t, you know, Google, and this goes back here about 10 or 15 years ago, I would type in Honeywell controls Atlanta. We would not show up anywhere in the search of man, this is not what’s going on inside. I asked, somebody said, you know this Internet thing, why aren’t we showing up? I said, well, you got to do SEO like a, what the heck is Seo?

Eric Stromquist: So and how do you get it? So they explained that a little bit and then he was kind of like, uh, I started a control, the control terms.com website. Okay. Which was became a blog and said, we got to start a blog. Well, I don’t like to write much. And then I started doing video casts and the not the podcasting sort of came out of that. I had a number of distributor buddy of mine who was an artist as well. And he and I got together and we created this show call control talk. Now the smart buildings videocast and podcasts, which we do every week. And from that we began to see the SEO. But more importantly I sorta realized just how critical this was. So you know, one thing for our audience out there, if you’re listening on control talk plan is that, you know, if you know me, you know, hadn’t been so lucky in love.

Eric Stromquist: So my wife, is younger and I noticed that she, if she was going to buy a product, she would never go to that website. She would always go to third party reviews, right? So in our industry it was pretty much if you buy a Honeywell control, you go to the Honeywell website, you buy Belimo you go to the website. But this younger generationt hat is coming in. They don’t want to do that. They want to of that third party verification. So we sort of filled that niche has sort of filled that out. So we do a lot of interviews with industry experts. We have all kinds of, training videos, product reviews and things like that. One of things we have learned Travis is that, you know, we, we did a video cast and we also did the product cost. It’s about 10 to one podcast consumers to video consumers.

Eric Stromquist: So if we get 200 views on, on a weekly show on the video side on youtube. Then , we would be getting about 2000 downloads. So, I’m on a mission now now, I think everybody in the HVAC and Smart Buildings industry should have a podcast. We have created what we call the ControlTrends Podcast Network and we’re going to offer a service to help companies in the HVAC and Smart Building Controls Space a way to start up and promote a podcast. And we will be working with your company, which we think has the perfect platform for helping us host it. We’ll actually produce the podcast. You get to do the easy part. You know, you record your audio, you send it to us, we’ll EQ the sound we’ll create a cool opener and outrro for your show and make sure it gets on all the relevant sites like IItunes Spreaker radio and Himalaya the whole nine yards.

Travis: Now tell me a little bit more about your vision for this network because it is one thing to have your own podcast and to have that be successful, but then to replicate that success for other people.

Travis: Tell me a little bit about why this is so important to you from a personal standpoint and not just a professional standpoint.

Eric Stromquist: Well, it kind of dumb luck. I mean I fell into this at sort of the right time I was and I sort of had the first mover advantage. So right now in our industry, we are really one of the only third party independent resource. You can have a, we’re one of the biggest this niche. So it’s important to me because I really care about our industry. And obviously if Honeywell, for example, is one of my primary companies that I represent, so if they do better than I do, better cause it, people in buy those products to me. Same with Johnson controls, Belimo, Siemens, all the majors, none of them right now or in the, in the podcast arena. I know the power of it because I’ve seen what it’s done for our business and I know how people consume it.

Eric Stromquist: So, um, I think it’s good for the industry as a whole. And I, you know, I’m passionate about making sure that, uh, that the people in our industry get this. Now we have the platform because of first mover advantage. So not only can we produce the podcast and then we can promote it on the controltrends.com site, we can promote it. So we have the ability to not only produce them but to promote them and that is a winning formula.

Travis: Well, and what’s really cool, and I don’t even know if you kind of have picked up on this, but you know, everything that you were just talking about comes from an abundance business mindset of how do we just help all of us do better together, which is, it’s really important to have that. Cause I know a lot of business owners that are like, no, no, no, I’m just going to try and hoard everything that I can maintain my competitive advantage.

Travis: Try and, you know, push my competitors aside. But you’re really coming at this from another perspective, which is how do we all help each other? Right? You know, and how do we share our resources and our expertise to help you knowing that, you know, it’s just the right thing to do and it’s going to help our bottom line as well.

Eric Stromquist: What’s, what’s interesting and, we’ve shifted, I mean obviously when we talk about network and we talk about the Internet, we are now in the network economy and it’s a completely different set of rules than it was in the scarcity economy. It used to be when I first got in the business, it was if you had information, you hoarded that because that was your differentiator. Now with the Internet, there are no secrets, right? So in the network economy givers get right, so you’d be the one that is giving and the network economy, if you’re going to succeed, you have to think not about how we’re going to slice the pie are up, but how we’re going to make the pie bigger.

Eric Stromquist: Okay? Just a completely different mindset and is totally counterintuitive to people. My generation that grew up with who you know, your guardians, your secrets with your life. He kicked your competitors and then blah, Blah Blah and he did what it took. One of the terms that we talk a lot about on ControlTalk Now The Smart Buildings Video Cast and Podcast is something called Co competition and, that means that you and I might be competing today and we might be working together tomorrow and then we’re going to compete again. So sort of what you trade on now, it’s not so much your knowledge now you trade on your integrity because we’re going to work together on a project and you step out of bounds that I’m never going to work with you again. And bottom line, you can’t do this alone. You can’t be the 800 pound gorilla and be successful.

Eric Stromquist: You’re going to have to work with other people. It’s just a different set of rules and your integrity’s most important thing.

Travis:

Travis: Well and your brand. How people think about your company’s name when they see you on a billboard or assign the emotion that they have attached to your company. And we’re not just talking about like, oh I love my my apple Mac book. I’ll never get a windows machine. But just having a non negative reaction to seeing you is so important for being able to conduct longterm business and and really focusing on the branding aspect and not just the direct sales. Right? Cause I know for a lot of business owners and business leaders that I talked to you about podcasting, their number one question is how is this going to drive sales to business, right? Because

Travis: there’s not necessarily a direct correlation of you know, this person listen to my podcast and they reached out to my sales rep and then we close this contract. Like that’s not really what podcasting is for. And so it’s not necessarily a direct link to growing your business, but on a larger scale, getting more and more people into your ecosystem, aware of your brand, aware of what you offer, and then establishing a human connection with them so that when they are in a position that they do need what you have, you become the only thing that they consider. Have you, have you found that to be true for you guys?

Eric Stromquist: Well I think so. And what I would say to the business owners is, is it shifted a little bit cause you know, if you’re in business, you most likely, unless your retail store have outside salespeople that are going on and calling on people. Okay. And when I first got in the business and our particular niche, that was great because you had bloated maintenance staffs and they would much rather talk to a salesman. He’s playing a donuts and then work well that’s all changed. You know, the, the maintenance staffs of trimmed down so people don’t have time to talk anymore unless they have a problem.. Okay? So you have to be able to get their attention and you better not waste their time. So my biggest expense is my outside salespeople making cold calls, trying to find new business.. You have to have them.

Eric Stromquist: When we have a hot lead, we send them out. Okay. So what I would take your business owners is that you have to be able to be found that needs to be part of your marketing strategy. And podcasting is a great way to be found. Give you a quick example. In our business, you know, there’s a plant in Augusta, Georgia that we’d been trying for five years to get into, right? And you know the now, now that know there’s not a receptionist, they don’t tell you who you need to see this basically a guard if you don’t know who you need to see, he’s not going to tell you he needed to see. But yes, a big potential customer, we knew there was potential in there. So we spent years trying to figure this out. I get a call one Monday morning it is the plant engineer at this particular facility going, our corporate engineering in New Jersey watches your show every week. They saw you do a review on this particular product. They’ve already approved it, they want to buy it from you. Can you come over and tell us what we need? But that doesn’t happen much. Okay. This is like an $80,000 sale, right? Doesn’t happen often. But you know, I’m invested in an hour or two a week and doing this. So you, part of your strategy has to be, how can it be found? Podcasting is a great way to do that.

Travis: And how is that, uh, just thinking about how when you first started trying to get you discovered, I need to be found, I need to be available, people need to be able to come and find me. So I’m not knocking down every single cold call that I can. Um, what have you noticed is the difference between the blog that you started initially and podcasting, whether that’s, you know, impact to your bottom line or even just you personally enjoying the process?

Eric Stromquist: While I do love the process and anybody that knows me knows that I like to talk, I mean, you’re probably getting there. It’s a good problem to have as a podcast here.

Eric Stromquist: It’s a good problem to have as a podcaster, I think it’s changed. Again, I think that we’re not, none of us are getting more, more time, right? So if you can have a message that’s easy to concern, um, we’ll put, can listen to it. Podcasting tends to work because they can listen to the podcast when that, when that, when they’re working out, they can listen to it by the riding to work and so on and so forth. So sort of embedded in that question, which would it be along the lines of, I have a podcast guest come on, like let’s say somebody from one of the vendors are represented by the product and say, look, here’s the formula. Don’t talk about the product right away and don’t push, don’t be, don’t be pushy. Like you’re trying to sell something. This, identify the problem that people are having and we can talk about the problem of why it’s a problem and then you can talk about how, you know, one of your solutions, this is how we would do it.

Eric Stromquist: And then it’s up to me as the podcast. So it was to go, no, that makes a lot of sense. So, um, that creates value all the way around because people want to understand the problem. If you just start talking about a product man, hook off, let’s go, let’s go listen to Joe Rogan and stat. Right, right.

Travis: And have you, uh, been strategic in the people that you bring on, either reaching out to people that you want to establish a connection with business wise and say, Hey, I’d love to have you on my podcast knowing that we’re going to have a nice conversation at the end of it. We’re going to have a working relationship potentially. Like have you, have you used any of those kinds of strategies are not fine?

Eric Stromquist: Not yet. That’s part of what I’ve learned here. I mean, getting guest, you know, oddly enough, I had one guy come in as a part of my premises.

Eric Stromquist: I don’t handle all the product lines. Okay. But, but the premise of controltrends.com is if you’re in the industry and have something positive to contribute and say you get equal airtime with somebody that I actually get paid by. Okay. So I had a, uh, you know, a, a competitor come in and this guy sat down, we did an interview, he got 108 leads from one 30 minute interview. Right? It didn’t help me at all. It was great for him. But here’s what’s odd and this is again, maybe it’s a function of the fact that a lot of the people in my industry are kind of older is it’s like pulling teeth to get anybody to come on the show and it’s difficult to get the guest. And again, we’re missing out. And again that’s why I’m getting back to the ControlTrends Podcasting Network.

Eric Stromquist: But it’s difficult for me to even get guests within our industry to come on on a regular basis. And I get that everbodies busy, but, if they knew the payoff, they should be lining up well.

Travis:

Travis: And the more that success that you do have and the more success that you can say, look at these people that came on and this is what they thought of their experience and how it helped them. You know it, it is a process. You know it, it’s not something that you just turn a switch and then all of a sudden you have people knocking down your door trying to come on your podcast.

Eric Stromquist: That is and is, you know, if you ever listen to my podcasts, you were here at one of the statements we say over and over and one of my teachers used to say nothing is obvious to the uninformed and I think where there’s my industry or your industry or anybody else’s industry, any business dude, there’s more and more stuff coming at us is harder and harder to stay informed formed. Right? So podcasting is a great way that

Eric Stromquist: you can on your schedule, listen and get informed because if you’re not informed me not to be able to take advantage of the changes that are coming. Absolutely. Now when we were chatting before this, this, we started doing this interview, you mentioned a second podcast. Tell me a little bit about that one. So the second one is a friend of mine, he’s actually a trainer, a martial artist and he’s made them work with over the years named Paul Lewis and the second podcast, it’s called the Zen brothers podcast. And, uh, what we do is we’re basically interview as we call them everyday and talk conversations with everyday masters. And sort of the theory with that is that yeah, I’m a, I’m a big podcast listener. I can all listen to, I’ll listen to Joe Rogan, I’ll listen to Tony Robbins, I listen to all those Tim Ferris and all those guys and they’re great, but they’re not necessarily where label, you know, I kinda sometimes come away going, yeah, it’s easy for Tony to do that cause he’s got a staff and that’s all he does full time.

Eric Stromquist: But you know, I got three, you two small kids or wife a business and all this other stuff. But whoops, what did discover with everyday master Travis? Is it, uh, we all have something we’re good at, we’re masters at. And so for me it’s, that is totally a labor of love. And what I love about that is, you know, we’ll start off, but you know, it’s kind of a longer format. And I know we’ve done our job right is if at the end of the podcast where we’re all kind of going, oh my gosh, we learned something together that none of us knew. Just through the dialogue and the conversation will, and it’s so cool to, to learn from other people’s experiences. Like that’s one of the reasons I really love reading books is somebody is lived out in experience or gained wisdom or knowledge and they put it in a form that I can consume in a few hours and essentially steal years of experience from them.

Travis: Yeah. And so, but typically you only think about like quote unquote experts, people that are widely recognized or are well known or famous as being worthy of learning from. But it’s so true that all of us have our own unique experiences that have made us the people that we are and really contributed to who he developed into. And by being able to uncover those diamonds in the rough. Yeah, really being able to, to not only just display the expertise that your guests have, but also to instill confidence in the people that are listening. Right. That if that person has an expertise in something they can offer, maybe I do too. Yeah. Awesome. Well, tell me about you. How did you get into podcasting? So I got into podcasting because I was really experimenting with different ways of sharing a message I was passionate about. So I was trying to do, develop an online, uh, Christian teaching ministry.

Travis: Um, and I was just trying to find different ways to connect with people that I had never met before. Right. Cause you have your inner circle of friends, you know, the people that are kind of loosely affiliated with you, your Facebook friends list or whatever. Um, but, but I was really, uh, trying to figure out how can I make this freely available to anyone who would want to listen. And I looked at starting video and doing a youtube channel or something like that. But it’s a lot to get invested in, like getting all the gear that you need and learning all the skills. Like editing a video is times harder than editing a podcast. Oh yeah. Because you have to be concerned with lighting. Like, I have to actually comb my hair in the morning. Like, you know, I can’t, I can’t just roll out of bed in my pj’s and then flip a microphone on.

Travis: And so for me, cause I was also still working a nine to five job. I had a family, you know, I had other things that I was, I was invested in and hobbies and things that I was doing. And so I didn’t have 20, 30 hours to devote to creating content. So I needed something I could be efficient at, but that would still be able to allow me to have the impact that I wanted to have. And so that’s, that’s kind of how I fell into podcasting, how I discovered podcasting in a sense. And so, and so I actually tried one kind of podcast. It was very ambitious. Uh, you know, I think I was definitely biting off more than I could chew, uh, first off, but I learned a lot of lessons. And then, uh, the second podcast and the third podcast both did better.

Travis: Um, and so what I really love about the podcasting and though is because when you first start, nobody listens. You can make all the mistakes that you want and learn and, and you’re not as self conscious about it. Right? Right. And nobody’s going to remember those podcast anyway. Right, right. And so, so I loved that. I loved that I could kind of learn on the fly, but still continue to, to put out those episodes knowing that I was going to get better over time. And I just fell in love with it. I fell in love with the, the interaction I would have with people that listened, people riding in, emailing me, sending me messages, telling me the impact that my podcasts was having on them personally. And these are people I’ve never met before, eyes. And so to know that I would create an episode offering some kind of wisdom or insight, and then someone on the other side of the country, on the other side of the world, their life is made better because of that.

Travis: And its, there’s, there’s no, there’s no friction. There’s no, there’s no sales in between. It’s absolutely free. Just get to, to develop a relationship. Like that is so, so cool. So completely agree. Well, listen to your podcast. So, so my main podcast, my personal podcast is called the practical Christian podcast tonight. And so I will interview, uh, people that have an expertise that maybe I don’t, um, to be able to share practical tips to help people just become more effective and in living out their faith on a daily basis. And then I’ll also do short strategy episodes, so like six to 10 minutes. Like, here’s one thing you can implement very quickly, very easily to work on your own, uh, you know, kind of effectiveness.

Eric Stromquist: That’s awesome. Well, listen, we’d love to have you come on, the zen brothers podcasts and, I think you’d be a great guest on that. And, and part of, you know, is kind of like an, Oh, Paul’s lived and the, you know, the, uh, the far east for a long time. So he’s very martial arts paste and stuff like that. So it’s Kinda like, you know, part of it is east versus West principles. So Christianity definitely fits into that. And, you know, and the people have different ways, but at the end of the day, it’s about coming away with like you say, a couple of nuggets where you go, oh, I can think about this or I could try this or I could do this. It’s giving people more possibilities.

Travis: Yeah, it does. So, so podcasting has been really a passion for me for the last two years has just continued to grow. And then last year I had an opportunity to start working for Buzzsprout, which is a, you know, a podcast hosting company. We help podcasters all over the world who snob Nabo official podcasting host to control trend podcast network, which we’re very excited about that. Um, and, but I was able to come on and essentially teach other podcasts, use the skills that I had learned through my own experience. And so, so in a way, become like an everyday expert and say, okay, these are the things that I tried that didn’t work. These were the things that I tried that did work. Um, and really just dive into, you know, really without any kind of expectation or trying to get people to sign up or anything.

Travis: Just give freely all the information, all of my best wisdom that I’ve acquired just to help people, just to help people be successful. Because, you know, a rising seat lifts all ships, right? Well, I mean I can say the word, the network economy and the number one principle, the network economy was givers get go first. So, uh, so I just got to ask them. So if we brought the dead that, uh, cause I know again, I’m trying to get my community to start their own podcast. Uh, uh, what would you say to somebody that hasn’t done a podcast is maybe thinking about it and what do you see some mistakes people make they give for when you first get started? So I think the number one mistake that people make when they first get started is they think it has to be this massive success for it to be worth it.

Travis: Right? And they measure success in, in terms that aren’t really realistic, whether that’s millions of people downloading your episodes or quitting your nine to five job after a month of podcasting. Like you kind of create these false senses of what success looks like. But so what I really try and stress with people that are first getting started is that’s a lot of pressure to put on yourself. That’s not necessary, right? Right. And if you’re just starting out on your own and you’re not paying a staff of people to edit each of your episodes and paying for promotion and things like that, you don’t have to make money for it to be a successful podcast, right? That if you can create a podcast about something that you already love, that you would already talk about for free, and now have an opportunity to have that conversation with other people.

Travis: And that’s just a win, win all around. And so I really try and reorient people that are first starting out to not think about the money aspect of it, to not think about the number of people that listen, but really to focus on the depth of the impact. So for a business, it’s doesn’t have a podcast, what, why should they do it? And we’ll, we’ll sort of outdated some of the head ones, dumb, which with some of these people, but from your perspective, what have you heard from businesses when you guys should do a podcast? So I think the, the businesses that really need to focus on podcasting or content creation in general is those that are in a commodity market, right? Where it’s what, what flavor of toothpaste do you sell, right? It’s you go to the shelf and it’s, you make a decision based on the packaging, right?

Travis: And so if you’re in a commodity market where you don’t have a huge differentiation between you and your competitors, brand is what sets you apart. Yeah. Right. Creating going that extra mile. Well and having that human connection, but, but, but to me your brand becomes your personality almost, right? Because you, again, all things being equal in a commodity market, they go, oh yeah, I’ll listen to Travis as podcast, I’ll pay a few more cents for this. Right? So your brand really becomes your personality. I think companies have to have a phase that, that people can resonate with. And what it does is it protects you from the race to the bottom, right? So down in the rock here. So if you’re in a commodities business and you’re just trying to undercut your competitor by 1% 2% and then they come back and undercut you 1% 2% then everyone loses, right?

Travis: But if you can position yourself as a quality product that meets a very specific need or customers that recognize their need and you also have a brand so they feel like they have a connection to you right then, then the price no longer is a part of the equation. Is, is the differentiator. You know?

Eric Stromquist: And, and really and truly, I mean, you know, the business books I’ve read about now is, is like for example, some when these major corporations to the number one guy there, they’re hiring masters of fine art because you can’t make some of this stuff less expensively. You’ve, you, you know, if you don’t have a great product to competitively priced or not even in the conversation, hugs the true across all businesses. If you don’t have great tech support, you’re not even in the business or what is the differentiator? And that’s why, you know, GE, people like this or higher masters to fine arts or poets to try to get that sort of vibe like an iPhone has or something.

Eric Stromquist: Right? And, and I think individual businesses have the opportunity to do that through social media. But you know, what I’ve learnt here at Travis is most people were dismissing it. They’re doing it wrong. So, uh, so we’re, we’re, what I’m coming back to, the number one pushback I get is, yeah, you know, it has to be perfect. No, your first three or four podcasts or Ghana sock are, but nobody’s going to go back and listen to episode one or two or three. And then sometimes I’d go back and like go, holy smokes, what were we thinking? Right. But uh, but the, but the other thing is, you know, it’s like, unless you just got to get started, you’ll get better as time goes on. But to not have a podcast as part of your social media program I think is, is, is a big error.

Travis: Yeah. And I just want to say one more thing just kind of on this, this topic of creating a brand and developing a relationship with people that haven’t even become your customers yet. Uh, specifically when it comes to pricing, right? That all at pricing is as a story. It’s a story of what you’re communicating value eyes and a story that the customer is coming into, right? That the reason people spend more on a Mac book versus a windows computer, that that costs less than has the same specs is the story. Not just the story from Macintosh apple where they’re telling you about, you know, how it’s going to set you apart, make you, you know, unique. But then the story you tell yourself that I identify with apple as a brand and I want to communicate that with my purchases. And even though it’s a little bit more, even though it costs a bit more for maybe the same kind of computer, the story that I’m telling myself makes me feel better. And so when you can have that kind of a story, branded relationship with your customers, they don’t mind paying more for your product because they believe in the value that you’re offering. And then you don’t have to worry about the price. Travis, you are not going to get a bumper sticker because I think we need to write a book together. It’s called people will buy products, they buy stories.

Speaker 3: Um, great stuff. Tell them to our community, cause I’m putting this up. This is the first I you to say, well welcome to control talk now the smart buildings podcast because this is it this week cause I’m in Orlando. Yup. And then tell people how they get hold of you.

Travis: So the best way to get ahold of me is with my work emailTravis@buzzsprout.com if you have any questions about podcasting, hosting, microphones, anything like that, I’d love to help you out for free.

Eric Stromquist: Yeah, and Travis Travis nine now we’re, we’re new best friends. So, uh, for all the people in the smart building controls network or if you want to start a podcast and being involved in the controlled trends podcasting network, we’ve got a team because it doesn’t mind they take a village, but it does take a buzz in a sprout and a couple of guys that want to make it happen. Absolutely. Thanks for having me on Eric. Hey, well thanks for having me on. I think I’m on your show or maybe this is the way it works in a new podcasting network economy. I mean, we’re both guest on each other’s shows simultaneously. How cool is that? Very cool.

Eric Stromquist: Well there you go, man. That’s another episode of Control Talk. Now you’re Smart Buildings video cast and podcast again, remember mark your calendar now, for super bowl Sunday. If you want to be at the coolest party ever, you want to be at the ControlTrends Awards. They’ll start early and we’ll be partying afterwards. We got everything worked out February 2nd groundhog day is also super bowl Sunday, but it’s going to be at The Control Trends Awards 2019 Extravaganza. We are going to combine the best elements of the ControlTrends Awards with the Superbowl party. Yeah, and I got a gato tell yo the venue. we got is, fantastic. We’ll check. We’ll be able to get 300 people on there and I’ll be the first 300 people. So you want a party get with one of our sponsors and say, I want to go to the ControlTrends Awards and if you want to be a sponsor with us again, we have some special rates that, if you register early and sign up now , you get a special rate. All right with that, remember be bold, stay in control and have a super bowl party.

Optergy Proton, winner of the 2017 ControlTrends Awards Innovative Product of the Year, thanks you for supporting Optergy nomination for the ControlTrends Awards. In 2017, Optergy was nominated in a number of categories. Optergy takes product innovation very seriously and we aim to help all buildings into Smart Monitoring & Control at a fraction of the price of the next best alternative.

This year we are proud to announce that one of our premiere system integrators has also won an award. Congratulations to Hawaii Energy Systems. The team in Hawaii have built a solid offering to their customers featuring Optergy as their go to energy management solution. Kudos to the entire team.

This just in from Memoori:

Indoor Mapping… The Foundation of Building Intelligence Memoori Talks to Ankit Agarwal, CEO of Silicon Valley Tech Company, Micello about how Indoor Mapping will become the Foundation for Building Intelligence.

Also Don’t Forget you can now Subscribe to ALL our Content on Soundcloud and iTunes!

Webinar Highlights…

* How Indoor Mapping could become the foundational layer for smart buildings. Think Google Maps inside Buildings!
* How Indoor Mapping will spur on App Developers to Create Services that will Transform the way Users Interact with Buildings.

This is a really great FREE opportunity to hear an expert share their experience and knowledge in developing Indoor Mapping API’s for the Smart Building Industry.

I had a chance to catch up with Leon Wurfel managing director, Bueno Systems, at the 2017 RealComm/IBcon conference. Leon and his team are masters at gathering and using data to optimize smart buildings performance. In this video Leon shares his knowledge about smart building control and Bueno’s approach to making data actionable.

BUENO are the Australian leader in data and information driven operational property services. We deliver superior data related and technology driven services based on fault detection, optimisation and business intelligence that simplify our clients’ operations and enhance their effectiveness across all building sectors and building information systems.

Sustainability is a new and immature industry and is missing many systems that other industries use to automate and improve outcomes. Our goal is to accelerate the proliferation of new systems and ideas throughout the property and sustainability industries.

How the Beatles are influencing Smart Building Controls and the Smart Buildings Controls Renaissance

Since it’s the 60th anniversary of John Lennon and Paul McCartney teaming up, we thought we’d give this most appropriate post another play.

Join us as we celebrate the Beatles and stretch our Liverpool experience into what’s happening in the Smart Building Renaissance. What’s exciting about the Beatles is that they took different styles of music and made it into their own thing — that was something new, and incredible, and thrilling. As more companies get behind the idea of the Smart Building Renaissance, we will continue to see new players reordering different approaches to the variety of buildings that make up our industry with new technologies.

Congratulations, once again to EasyIO on a fantastic and successful Global EasyIO Partner Event as they delivered on all fronts: Great networking, entertainment, and above-all, the value-added additions made to their product portfolio; especially, the FS-32 and new wireless controllers with next-gen applications.

ControlTrends followed John Lennon and Paul McCartney for a short while through the streets of Liverpool, chasing down the names and places that we’ll never forget. Yet, the Beatles phenomena was that made of a team, and without George Harrison, Brian Epstein, and Ringo Starr, they might have never reached critical mass.

Please note the two video corrections: The German city referenced should have been Hamburg, not Hanover and the Church reference of St. Andrews, should have been St. James. Apologies.

One another note, as our industry moves forward, with non-traditional companies like Intel, Dell, or whomever, perhaps playing the figurative role of Lennon and McCartney, recording the new hits, not exactly of our industry, this recent experience has allowed us to better appreciate the really great accomplishments of control companies like Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Siemens, and Schneider Electric and the many others — who have made the comforts that we take for granted the world over, so routine and possible. Not to insinuate that they aren’t every bit in the future mix!

Join us as we celebrate the Beatles and stretch our Liverpool experience into what’s happening in the Smart Building Renaissance. What’s exciting about the Beatles is that they took different styles of music and made it into their own thing — that was something new, and incredible, and thrilling. As more companies get behind the idea of the Smart Building Renaissance, we will continue to see new players reordering different approaches to the variety of buildings that make up our industry with new technologies.

Congratulations, once again to EasyIO on a fantastic and successful Global EasyIO Partner Event as they delivered on all fronts: Great networking, entertainment, and above-all, the value-added additions made to their product portfolio; especially, the FS-32 and new wireless controllers with next-gen applications.

ControlTrends followed John Lennon and Paul McCartney for a short while through the streets of Liverpool, chasing down the names and places that we’ll never forget. Yet, the Beatles phenomena was that made of a team, and without George Harrison, Brian Epstein, and Ringo Starr, they might have never reached critical mass.

Please note the two video corrections: The German city referenced should have been Hamburg, not Hanover and the Church reference of St. Andrews, should have been St. James. Apologies.

One another note, as our industry moves forward, with non-traditional companies like Intel, Dell, or whomever, perhaps playing the figurative role of Lennon and McCartney, recording the new hits, not exactly of our industry, this recent experience has allowed us to better appreciate the really great accomplishments of control companies like Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Siemens, and Schneider Electric and the many others — who have made the comforts that we take for granted the world over, so routine and possible. Not to insinuate that they aren’t every bit in the future mix!

Great stuff from Memoori. Our friend Therese Sullivan, from Building Context, turned us on to this great Smart Buildings Resourse.

Here is the Audio Stream from our 4th Free Webinar in the 2017 Smart Buildings Series, sponsored by Project Haystack.

Creating Transparency From Building Analytics. This was an in-depth Q&A Webinar with James Lee CEO & President of Cimetrics. We discus Jim’s recent article “Analytics Creates Transparency” and his thoughts on why he thinks analytics is the key that the industry has been waiting for to unlock the true business value from building technologies.

In this Q&A session with Jim, we discuss The impact of building analytics and BACnet .

Analytics removes many of the complexities that we build into buildings. When implemented well, an analytics-powered building system allows owners and operators to focus on their needs; which is to provide occupants what they need.
A natural and logical way forward for our industry is to see how analytics brings value to building owners and operators, after all, they are our customers.
We are on the cusp of an industry transformation focusing on making occupants happy and content in their use of buildings, enabling building owners to see more value in what we do.

Dan Flaherty, Distech’s Vice President, Sales & Energy Services, takes the ControlTrends Community on a tour of Acuity Brands’ Disney-like technology center, a new mecca for young engineering talent. Join in as Dan shows us some of the really cool ways lighting technology has significantly enhanced the user experience within the Hospital, K-12, and Retail spaces. With the acquisition of Distech and DGLogik, Acuity has re-engineered the way lighting and sensors are deployed and how lighting sensor data and the Distech Eclypse Building Automation Systems are driving the next-gen smarter buildings. Gone are the days of the 72 degree thermostat… for sure. For more insight on how Acutiy is changing the concept of lighting, be sure to check out my interview with Ryan Sen, Distech’s Director of Sales Support.

In this August edition of Automated Buildings, owner and editor, Ken Sinclair, comments on how data will be alternating some its direction from the cloud to edge devices — where the data might be better served and for faster and greater effect. Ken sums it up best in his opening editorial remarks, “My five decades in the building automation industry have made it crystal clear that we are always moving towards or away from centralization and I love this month’s theme that sees us moving in both direction at the same time. This is important because the success of our industry and all other industries is embedded in the balance of cloud, edge and self learning devices.”

ControlTrends had the opportunity to interview James M. Burtch, a young, up-and-coming Energy Sustainability Consultant. Actually, it’s James M. Burtch, C.R.M., C.D.S.M., C.B.C.P., C.L.E.P., C.E.M., and Honeywell EEO Certified. As evidenced by the host of certification designations following his name, Jim has dedicated much of his professional career pursuing and obtaining the professional expertise that enables him to write enlightened building automation systems specifications that ensure owners gets what they want and that the contractors meet the specification. Jim believes that data analytics will continue to grow in significance and value as it becomes easier to access and filter for effect. As principal and owner of Interactive Energy, LLC, Jim specializes in new and retrofit building automation system projects with emphasis on energy sustainability. Located in Marion, Ohio, Interactive Energy, LLC services several national accounts.